The ceremony had barely ended when the great hall began filling with laughter, music and celebration. Servants moved between the guests with trays of food and drinks, musicians prepared for the festivities, and members of both families gathered around Eirlys and Loki to offer their congratulations. Everyone seemed determined to make the beginning of their marriage as joyful as possible. Yet Eirlys could not stop looking towards the corner where Thor had been standing even though he was no longer there. She had noticed his absence almost immediately after the ceremony, but she had forced herself not to ask. She had spent enough of the day worrying about him, and she did not want her first moments as Loki's wife to be consumed by guilt.
Then Thor appeared again. He walked into the centre of the hall with Jane beside him, and the expression on his face was strangely composed. Eirlys watched as he approached Odin and Frigga, and soon enough, several nearby conversations faded into silence. Thor announced that he had made a decision. He was going back to Midgard with Jane. He intended to remain there because he loved her. Eirlys stared at him, she wondered if she had heard him correctly.
Jane looked equally uncomfortable. She glanced at Thor, then towards Eirlys, clearly unsure of what to do with the declaration. She knew enough now to understand what had happened between Thor and Eirlys that morning. She had seen the way he had looked at her, had understood that his feelings for the bride were far more complicated than friendship. And now, immediately after watching Eirlys marry Loki, he was standing before everyone and announcing that he loved Jane. It felt almost deliberate. Eirlys knew Thor too well. Perhaps he wanted her to hear it, he wanted to hurt her in return. She could not understand why he would do that.
Thor had always been the person she trusted most. Before all of this, before Loki, before Jane had ever entered their lives, Thor had been her closest friend. He was the person she could find in the middle of a crowded hall without even looking. The person she could argue with, laugh with, insult and forgive without ever questioning whether their friendship would survive it. She had never imagined a life in which Thor simply walked away from her. Yet that was exactly what he was threatening to do.
"You're leaving?" Eirlys finally asked.
Thor looked at her. There was something guarded in his eyes. "Yes."
"Now?"
He nodded, Eirlys felt something twist painfully inside her. She had expected anger, distance and even from him for choosing Loki. But leaving Asgard altogether was different. "You're going to Midgard with Jane because you love her?"
Thor's jaw tightened. "Yes."
Jane shifted awkwardly beside him. She clearly knew this was not the whole story. Eirlys looked at her, then back at Thor. She could not bring herself to be angry with Jane. If anything, Jane looked almost as uncomfortable as she felt.
"You told me you loved me, just an hour earlier," Eirlys said quietly.
The hall had grown noticeably quieter around them. Thor looked away for a moment before meeting her eyes again. "I know what I said."
"And now you love her?" There was hurt in her voice despite her efforts to hide it.
Thor's expression hardened slightly. "Perhaps I finally understood what I wanted. Like you did."
Eirlys stared at him, something about that answer hurt more than she expected. She had spent the entire morning wondering whether she had made the right choice. She had worried about Loki, about her family, about Thor and about the consequences of everything. She had eventually chosen the person whose hurt she could not bear to cause. But she had never considered that she might lose Thor anyway. He was her best friend, her oldest companion, and the man who had been part of her life for so long that she had never thought to imagine him absent from it. Loki, standing beside her, remained silent. He could see the pain in her expression, and despite everything he had heard that morning, he did not feel victorious.
Eirlys looked at Thor one last time. "If you want to leave, I won't stop you." Her voice trembled slightly. "But don't tell yourself that this is what I wanted."
Thor's expression flickered. Eirlys swallowed the ache in her throat and turned away. She had chosen Loki and she would stand by that choice but that did not mean losing Thor suddenly stopped hurting. Behind her, Loki quietly reached for her hand and this time, she held on.
Thor's announcement had barely settled before Odin made it clear that he was not going to approve it so easily. The king had listened to his son's declaration with a patience that was already beginning to wear thin. He understood that Thor was upset. He understood that the wedding had not gone the way Thor had hoped, and he understood that Midgard had become important to him. But understanding his son's feelings did not mean allowing him to abandon his responsibilities whenever his heart was hurt.
"You may visit Midgard," Odin said at last, his voice carrying enough authority to quiet the murmurs around them. "You may remain there for a few days if that is what you require. But you will not leave Asgard permanently."
Thor frowned. "Father—"
"You are still the heir." The reminder immediately changed the atmosphere.
Odin stepped closer, lowering his voice slightly so that the conversation would not become another spectacle for the remaining guests. "Your coronation is approaching. There are matters that require your presence, and until you are crowned, you cannot simply disappear to another realm."
Thor glanced towards Jane. "I want to live there."
"And you may discuss where you wish to live after you are king," Odin replied. "Until then, you remain here."
Frigga joined them, her expression gentler but no less firm. She placed a hand lightly against Thor's arm. "Your father is not asking you to abandon Jane," she said. "If you wish to return to Midgard for a few days, we will not prevent you. But you have duties here, Thor, and you cannot decide that they no longer matter because today has been difficult."
Thor looked down, clearly unhappy with the answer but Jane, standing beside him, seemed almost relieved. She had understood from the moment Thor announced his decision that he was acting from a place of hurt. She cared about him, but she had no desire to become the reason he abandoned everything he had known. Especially not when she knew that his feelings for Eirlys had not simply disappeared because he had declared otherwise.
"I think you should stay until the coronation," Jane said quietly.
Thor looked at her in surprise. "You do?"
Jane gave him a small smile. "I don't want you making a decision this big because you're upset."
Thor had no immediate answer. Across the hall, Eirlys heard the exchange but said nothing. She was exhausted enough already, and she knew better than to involve herself in Thor's argument with his parents.
Eventually, Odin dismissed the matter, making it clear that Thor's decision could be revisited after the coronation. By then, most of the guests had begun leaving. The great hall slowly emptied of nobles, visiting families and foreign representatives until the enormous space finally began to feel like itself again. Servants collected abandoned glasses, removed decorations that had been disturbed during the celebrations and carried away trays that had somehow survived the enormous gathering. Both families seemed equally relieved.
Eirlys's parents had spent most of the day smiling, greeting people and maintaining the dignity expected of them, and now her father finally sank into a chair with a long breath. "I never want to see that many people in one room again."
Her mother laughed quietly while Frigga was watching the servants clear away the last of the decorations when Odin came to stand beside her.
"You survived," he said.
Frigga looked at him. "Barely."
They both laughed. For all the grandeur of the ceremony, the endless preparations and the expectations surrounding the marriage, the quiet after everyone had gone felt almost like a gift. The wedding was over, the guests were gone, so the families could finally breathe. But the complicated part of the day was far from over. Eirlys was married to Loki, Thor was determined to leave for Midgard, and Odin already had another ceremony to prepare for. The coronation was waiting.